Finally, Hegde apologises

NEW DELHI: In a bid to end the controversy that erupted over his remarks on the Constitution and stalled parliamentary proceedings, Minister of State for Skill Development Anantkumar Hegde on Thursday tendered an apology in the Lok Sabha. He said his speech at a function in Karnataka was distorted.

Mr. Hegde first said that he held the country, the Constitution and its architect Dr. B.R. Ambedkar in high esteem and there was no question of showing disrespect to them.

“As a citizen, I can’t think of violating the Constitution,” he said. After this, the Congress, led by Mallikarjun Kharge, again protested demanding an apology from Mr. Hegde.₹

The Speaker then intervened and told Hegde that there was no question of anyone showing disrespect to Dr. Ambedkar but, at times, if someone says something, his or her statement sometimes hurt someone else and for that if the person tenders apology, his stature would not get lowered.

With Ms. Mahajan’s nudge, Mr. Hegde said his speech was presented in a distorted manner, which was not correct.

“If someone is hurt, I have no hesitation to tender my apology,” he said.

On Sunday, Mr. Hegde, reportedly said people should identify themselves by their religion and “those who, without knowing about their parental blood, call themselves secular, they don’t have their own identity...they don’t know about their parentage.”

He also said “we are here to change the Constitution and we’ll change it.”

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh were present in the House. NEW DELHI: The Rajya Sabha on Thursday witnessed two adjournments in the prelunch session as the opposition protested over the controversial remarks by minister Anant Kumar Hegde, while a BJP member pressed for a privilege notice against Congress President Rahul Gandhi for “twisting” Arun Jaitley’s name.

Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu said he would examine the privilege notice by BJP’S Bhupender Yadav against Gandhi and added that any comment from outside the House on an agreement between the ruling side and the opposition was not good.

Yesterday after a prolonged impasse, the Rajya Sabha had passed two important bills after the government and opposition reached an understanding on Prime Minister’s Narendra Modi remarks against his predecessor Manmohan Singh.

“A solemn agreement between the Leader of the House and Leader of the Oppositon was reached. Anybody outside (the House) commenting on the agreement is not good for the House or the system,” Naidu said.

The House was adjourned briefly in the pre-noon session as the main opposition Congress continued protests over Hegde’s remark on secularism and changing the Constitution.

The House was adjourned again little after noon till 2 pm.

When the House met at 12 PM, Naidu wanted to take up a Question Hour, but opposition members were again on their feet noisily protesting Hegde’s remarks. Naidu berated them saying it was important that the questions are taken up and the opposition members were violating rules.

Congress member B K Hariprasad responded that the members were only violating rules while a minister was violating the Constitution.